Isiah 1:17-
Learn to do well. Seek justice, Relieve the oppressed, Judge the fatherless, Plead for the widow.

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Saturday, March 22, 2008

I'm watching DC vs. Heller on C-Span right now!!!

America and the Courts on C-Span is featuring oral arguments in the case DC vs. Heller. This case is challenging the handgun ban in Washington, DC. It's interesting how the Justices of the US Supreme Court and the lawyers (especially Alan Gura who's arguing for Dick Anthony Heller) discuss precedents, old state constitutions, the founding fathers, English common law just to discuss whether or not the second amendment refers to a common right (i.e the militias or the purposes of national defense) or an individual right (i.e. a person has the right to bear arms for the purposes of self-defense). I realize that unless I did my research to justify arguing against any gun control legislation that exists in American law (I could be talking about municipal ordinances, state law, or even federal law) I would have a little trouble in making my case. Obviously Gura has done his research and so have the individual justices of the Supreme Court. I'm basically enjoying this back and forth.

Let me be honest when I say that I support the right of an individual to carry a gun for their own self-defense. I believe it is unresonable to not expect a citizen to wait for police protection especially when many citizens have one complaint about the police, that they don't always show up on the scene in a reasonable amount of time. That is by the time they arrive the deed is done.

If you want to know a little more about what's going on at the Supreme Court of the United States here's a blog for your purposes. And they are following DC vs. Heller and probably in better detail than I have presented it at this moment. SCOTUSblog is where to go.